Data Journalism 101

HKBU | May 2016

@silvashih

A bit about me

Data editor of FTChinese based in Beijing. Making data-driven stories and reporting on Taiwan.

You'll leave this 2-day-workshop knowing:

• What is data journalism and what is not.
• What is data and what is not.
• How to critique and improve charts.
• How to keep learning by yourself.

Section 1

What is data journalism?

short answer

Tell stories with data.

It started way
before you think it did.

Mapping the 1854 London Cholera Outbreak

Why do people care about it so much now?

The why shapes how you do things.

Tools advanced.

The forces behind the story.

But people still misunderstand the beauty of data journalism in some ways.

data journalist = researcher?

"Hey Lisa. Could you pull all the relevant clips on that for me?"

data report = infographic?

What a data-driven story looks like？

• text
• charts
• graphics
• news apps
• ....

Multiple skills

• text → writing
• charts → statistic+design+(coding)
• graphics → statistic+design+(coding)
• news app → coding
• .... → ?

Normally,
it takes a TEAM to do the job.

FTC

me＋1/2 developer

FT interactive

coders, designers, statisticians, map-makers.

Caixin:cross-functional

The way to make data-driven stories is similar.

Process

Always ask yourself:

why and how to use data to make story better?

Lunch break

Section 2

What is data?

Machine readable

structured data

XLS (excel)

CSV

comma-seperated value

TSV

tab-seperated value

JSON

XML

NOT structured data

PDF

covert PDF to csv

JPEG/PNG/GIF (img)

huh?

Optical-character recognition (OCR)

Tools:

google " X to X converter"

Where to find data?

Google it.

• Think Tank
• Government
• Companies who own unique data (Business reporting)
• Academic paper *
• Collect it yourself *
• Wise man *

Speed data-ing

Google spreadsheet

number vs. text

=

＋－ｘ ÷

ranking

=sum( )

=average( )

=IMPORTHTML(URL,"table", 1)

Exercise:

http://goo.gl/Jr1Dh

Q: how many visitor arrivals in 2014?

Q: Which category has the most serious decline?

https://data.gov.hk/en/

http://data.worldbank.org/

Knowing bad data.

Which one is May?

27/5/16

5/27/15

See you.

@silvashih
silva.shih@ft.com
www.ftchinese.com/channel/datanews.html

Section 3

Make data beautiful

Recap

Yes, I've got the data and make it clean. What's next?

Data story:

• text
• chart
• graphic
• news app
• ....

What is the best way to present data?

Basic Charts

Line

Track changes over time.

Bar

Compare categories

Bubble

compare

Bubble

Common Tools

• Adobe illustrator
• Excel/google spreadsheet
• free tools online (google it)
• d3.js

Basic design rules

The goal should be clarity rather than simplicity.

Excercise

google spreadsheet

Quartz's chartbuilder

How to cheat with charts?

hiding something?

Section 4

Going further

Global Trends

Trend 1

Skills level up

Trend 2

Mobile centric

Scroll

Static (gif)

"Static images are the most effective form of communication."
Archie Tse, NYT

“If it doesn’t work on mobile, it doesn’t work."

Trend 3

Coversation with readers

Trend 4

Collaboration

Journalism + civic hack

Question remained

Going further

how to train yourself?

I'm not born with these skills.

• Majored in public administration in college.
• Trained magazine writing for almost 5 yrs.
• Expolore the possibility of the future of journalism in graduate school. Taught myself ever since.

Unlimited resources on the internet

People.

Connect the dots.

People → knowing who to follow.

FTChinese.com

FT Data blog/interactive

bloomberg graphics

nikkei's visual data

#ddj #dataviz

Connect the dots → Cross the border.

Design + Coding + Journalism + Thinking wild

Thanks!

@silvashih

silva.shih@ft.com

www.ftchinese.com/channel/datanews.html